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Episode 871: The Braves Are Bad Edition
Date April 27, 2016 Summary Ben and Sam banter about the Braves and Rich Hill, then answer listener emails about fun-fact distortion, Adrian Beltre vs. Chipper Jones, assessing broadcaster quality, and more. Topics * Fun fact distortion * Excluding playoffs from streaks and fun facts * Adrian Beltre vs. Chipper Jones * Pitchers pulled from high strikeout games * Assessing broadcaster quality Intro Rich Hill 'Effectively Wild' Broadcast Clip Outro Mudcrutch, "Seven Days" Banter * The Atlanta Braves are upset at their replay reviewer for not recommending a challenge in a recent game. * What are the differences between tanking and being bad. Sam thinks that right now the Braves are simply just bad. * Sam says right now he would give Rich Hill a 3-year, $42 million contract. This is the highest Sam has ever gone. Email Questions * Josh: "In the Jake Arrieta no-hitter highlight video on ESPN's website the announcer mentioned that the two previous teams to throw a no-hitter while also scoring at least 13 runs in the World Series era went on to win the World Series. My question is, is this the worst World Series predictor ever?" * Jeff: "Hey guys, just got done listening to your podcast that concluded by talking about fun facts and how we all add or subtract certain things to make our fun facts more clearly fit a given narrative. I get it, I do it too. But one thing that I don't understand is why virtually nobody ever calls anyone out on eliminating the most important pieces of information on certain fun facts or streaks. For instance, with Jake Arrieta you mentioned that people leave out a series of eight games during which he had a 1.5 ERA or something close to it because that ruined the narrative. But also left out is his 19 2/3 IP in the 2015 playoffs during which he gave up 8 runs. I understand postseason is different but why is it left out of streaks and fun facts like this? The narrative is that Arrieta has been totally untouched since insert time frame since 2015 until now here, but the truth is in two of his three most important starts since said time frame he posted an ERA of 3.66. Hardly awful at all and not bashing him but why do we leave out playoff games when they are more important than anything?" * Alex: "I was in an argument with my friend about who the better 3rd baseman was, Adrian Beltre or Chipper Jones. I found out that Beltre had only made the All-Star game four times and not in 2004 when he got 2nd in MVP voting. Jones was an All-Star eight times but not in 1999 when he won the MVP. I know that All-Star appearances is in no way reflective of a player's all-time value but I'm incredibly surprised how few appearances Beltre has had and how neither player made the All-Star game in their best year. Are All-Star voters just incredibly stupid or was there some other factor? Also, is Beltre or Chipper Jones the better third baseman?" * Rich: "How many games or innings do you have to listen to before you know if a radio announcer or team is worth listening to? I have found a couple play by play guys that only took about two innings for me to switch my feed but overall I feel like I need a game's worth of listening before knowing if they are any good." Play Index * Sam uses the Play Index to find out games where a pitcher was on pace to strikeout 20 or 21 batters but is pulled from the game anyways. * In the 1990s there were 0 or 1 such games each season. This has increased steadily since then. * There have been 3 games this season where pitchers were pulled from a game where they had at least 2.1 as many strikeouts as innings pitched. Notes * Rich Hill has 2 WAR in his last 9 starts. * Playoff statistics are typically excluded from database searches that are run. * Sam notes that even though Beltre and Jones have similar career value, people tend to favor offense-heavy WAR (Jones) over defense heavy. * In Episode 677 Ben and Sam discuss the decision to pull Corey Kluber from a start where he could have struck out 21 batters. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 871: The Braves Are Bad Edition Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes